Our breakfast (the website i booked the hotel from bluff me say is American buffet breakfast, but think this is better):
Behold the nasty natou:
(the natou is a notorious dish supposedly smelly, and disgusting and an acquired taste. Some people swore by it. I remember watching this anime where the hero is this very good-looking, cool, smart, amazing, popular hero whose only flaw is his love for natou. haha very funny when the girls found out)
After breakfast, we checked out, and decided to squeeze in a trip to the Imperial Palace before heading to Kyoto.
Liang very sillily brought a huge haversack as luggage, and a another backpack as handcarry. So it was either he carry the backpack in front and risk looking like a pregnant man, or carry it on his back somehow.
So i did this:
[If u guys din realise already, my supposed luggage is just a backpack. Same backpack i brought on 2day chalets in sentosa.I just stuffed it full to the brim, stuff a few clothing into my hand carry, and voila, i'm the world's lightest traveller (for a girl, that is)]
Me on the local train to Imperial Palace:
Very crowded on the train, and most people are either reading a book, using their laptops or sleeping.
At the Imperial Palace (which I assume is where the royal family is still residing, since we're not able to enter the palace itself, just roam around its gardens, which is very very pretty):
Me with Tokyo Tower in background (cue: Liang saying for umpteen time "heng we never go, can see from here")
One of the small buildings of the palace compound (with a true blue moat surrounding the grounds):
This is not a lousy photo, it's really very difficult to take a photo of the elusive Palace.
We then headed back to the JR Tokyo Station to take the shinkansen (=bullet train) to Kyoto.
The Tokyo Station, looks like King's Cross Station in London!
Taking a photo with our bullet train:
There are two types of bullet trains in Japan, the normal ones (hikari) and the high class ones (nozomi) which are faster, better, cleaner and cater mostly to businessmen because they are hideously hideously expensive. The JR pass only allows you to use the hikari trains, so if u mistakenly get onto the nozomi, you will confirm puke at the price difference u have to pay if u get caught.
The nozomi:
Liang is very amused with the word nozomi, and insist on calling himself that. He has already taken to calling me 'atsui' cos he says that word also sound very cute.
The JR trains in Japan are scarily efficient, punctual, and leave the station after stopping for just a few minutes (so make sure u're punctual, and fast or u'll miss the train, like how we did on our last day. A very scary day. More on that later). They even have station attendants who will bow repeatedly in rhythm. Quite funny.
Our bento lunches:
I got sold on the pretty box:
And it was delicious too, for a bento
And after 2hours, we arrived in Kyoto.
The JR Kyoto station is HUGE, and looks really grand.
It has a 9 storey Isetan incoporated into it, which I think also belongs to JR cos the sign says 'JR Isetan'.We started making jokes abt how we can go in and buy whatever we want cos owning the JR pass, everything is free.
After we got the various maps and bus guides and travel passes, we headed off on the JR bus (free again!) to our ryokan (=Japanese inn), Ryokan Yamazaki.
On the bus, I saw this Kyoto university with students milling around outside like a scene from some Jap anime, and it also had many many sakura trees on its grounds.
One of our fellow JR bus passengers is a pretty Jap girl in full kimono gear complete with sandals and beautifully bunned up hair. I noticed her because she was strangely alone, and she was falling asleep on the long bus journey. She got off at a temple.
(Remember this girl, dear friends, remember)
Our ryokan is a family run, home style inn which provided many thoughtful touches that made it such an enjoyable stay. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Especially since we had initially planned to go Mt Fuji which costs a bomb to stay at a ryokan there, I had booked our Kyoto accomodation in a cheap hostel called 'Kyoto's cheapest inn', with a name like that, I didn't have very high expectations.
So I'm really glad we scraped our Mt Fuji plan and spent two days in Kyoto instead. Also, we saw Mt Fuji on our way to Kyoto in the bullet train, and Liang said "ok. saw already no need to go liao".
[Sidenote: the reason why I included Mt Fuji in the itinerary is because Liang kept wanting to go there. So i said jokingly, "why u want to go? to climb it is it?" He said, "yar!" I only found out much later, like 1 week before the trip later, that he was dead serious. He really wanted to climb to the summit of Mt Fuiji. With me, who haven't exercised in 5years. On the first day of spring. After I cruelly dashed his hopes "dear, nobody climb Mt Fuji in spring one", we decided to buang it for Kyoto. Heehee]
The garden in our ryokan
A japanese style living room all to ourselves
After that, we asked the owner how to go to Arashiyama, a small scenic town known for its cherry blossoms and bamboo forests. He gave us very complicated directions and we fumbled ahead, only to figure out (at Arashiyama), by scrutinizing our bus guides and maps a faster and cheaper way. Oh well.
As you can see, our ryokan is situated in the middle of nowhere, which all added to its peaceful and rustic charm.
When we boarded the bus, we were surprised to see that girl again, haha, and she was still sleeping.
The owner told us to take a new railway which will take us direct to Arashiyama and after asking alot of people and even a friendly policeman, we realised that the station to board this new railway is here:
Haha.. very rustic indeed.
While we were fumbling around, walking around the subway station near our ryokan like headless flies, we bumped into kimono girl (affectionately christened so by Liang) again! She also look very lost, and she was still alone.
But all was worth it when I saw the charming town of Arashiyama.
And again I took alot of photos of sakura.
Bought green tea ice-cream even though it was really cold.
There were alot of people there, gathered on mats below the sakura blossoms cos we came to Kyoto at the right time when all the cherry blossoms are in full bloom (they're only in full bloom for less than 1 week before they start to fall, so we were very lucky indeed). We also spotted many camera crews and professional photographers and I think I spotted an artiste!
Well, I know he's an artiste cos tons of people are crowding around him taking lots of photos, but I think I recognise him in some jap drama i watched before! So exciting!
More pretty desktop worthy photos:
We bought takopachi. Very yummy esp in the cold weather.
After that, it grew really dark, and even though we found the bamboo forest, it was so creepy we decided to give it a miss.
This was also when in horror, I saw kimono girl across the street from us, heading away from bamboo forest.
Very creepy i tell you.
Liang wanted to take a photo of her, but I scared later she din 'appear' on film, then what would I do?
We decided to leave then, cos we needed to catch the last bus back to our ryokan, if not we'd be stranded in the middle of nowhere.
This is where we have to wait for our bus:
It's also known as the deadest town ever.
To buy dinner, we have to hop onto the subway to the next station all the time hoping we can get back in time to catch the bus.
This was where we bought dinner, it's a stall that specialises on selling bentos.
Our bento dinner:
Sleeping on the tatami mattress is no joke. The blankets are so thick and heavy I feel quite suffocated but it's so cold i can't do without the blankets.
1 comment:
Hello! I stumble upon your blog while searching information on Ryokan Yamazaki.
My friends and I plan to go Japan next April, planning to stay at Ryokan Yamazaki for 2 nights. Since you have stayed there, I have a few questions to ask:
1) Was it difficult to go there from Kyoto St? You wrote, you took the JR bus to Yamazaki, was it hard to find Yamazaki from the bus stop?
2) How was the ryokan? Clean? What about the bathroom? Is it single use, as in, 1 person at a time?
Sorry for the many questions, it's because I want to know if it is worth the extra money and trouble to stay there.
Thanks for your time, please do reply (if its not too much trouble)
Thank you very much! :)
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